Per un pugno di dollari

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Per un pugno di dollari (Italy · Spain · West Germany, 1964) is a spaghetti western by Sergio Leone that premiered in 1964. This highly influential film is credited with starting the Italian western genre craze.

Also known as

Fistful of Dollars (USA) | A Fistful of Dollars | For a Fistful of Dollars | Por un punado de dolares (Spain) | Für eine Handvoll Dollar (Germany) | Por um punhado de dólares (Portugal) | Pour une poignée de dollars (France) | För en handfull dollar (Sweden) | Za garść dolarów (Poland) | Bir Avuç Dolar (Turkey) | 荒野の用心棒 Koya no Yojinbo (Japan) | Pro hrst dolarů (Czech Republic) |یک مشت دلار (Iran) | Béeso Dah Yiníłjaa’ (Navajo) | За шепа долари (Bulgaria) | En nævefuld dollars (Denmark) | Il magnifico straniero (working title, Italy) | Ray El Magnifico (working title, Spain)
A Fistful of Dollars movie poster

Synopsis

In a plot largely taken from the Samurai film Yojimbo, Clint Eastwood is a laconic stranger who plays two criminal factions in a border town against each other to his own financial gain.

Credits

  • Cast (Italian): Clint Eastwood (Joe / 'Man With No Name'), Marianne Koch (Marisol), Gian Maria Volonté [as John Wells] (Ramon Rojo), Wolfgang Lukschy [as W. Lukschy] (Sheriff John Baxter), Sieghardt Rupp [as S. Rupp] (Esteban Rojo), Josef Egger [as Joe Edger] (Piripero), Antonio Prieto Puerto [as Antonio Prieto] (Don Miguel Benito Rojo), José Calvo (Silvanito), Margarita Lozano [as Margherita Lozano] (Consuelo Baxter), Daniel Martin (Julian / Julio), Benito Stefanelli [as Benny Reeves] (Rubio), Mario Brega [as Richard Stuyvesant] (Chico / Paco), Bruno Carotenuto [as Carol Brown] (Antonio Baxter), Aldo Sambrell [as Aldo Sambreli] (Manolo)
  • Uncredited actors: Lorenzo Robledo (Baxter henchman), Antonio Molino Rojo (Baxter henchman), Luis Barboo (Baxter henchman), William Thomkins (Baxter henchman), Antonio Padilla (Baxter henchman), Rafael Vaquero (Baxter henchman), Roman Ariznavarreta (Baxter henchman), Mario de Barros (Baxter henchman), Joe Kamel (Baxter henchman), Nino del Arco (Jesus), José Canalejas (Alvaro), Fernando Sanchez Polack (Rojo gang member), José Halufi (Rojo gang member), Luis Rodriguez (Rojo gang member), Joaquín Solís (Rojo gang member), Juan Cortés (Mexican Cavalry Captain), Antonio Moreno (Juan de Dios)
  • Director: Sergio Leone [as Bob Robertson in original Italian credits]
  • Story: Adriano Bolzoni, Víctor Andrés Catena
  • Screenplay: Sergio Leone, Víctor Andrés Catena, Fernando Di Leo, Jamie Comas, Duccio Tessari
  • Cinematography: Massimo Dallamano [as Jack Dalmas] [Technicolor - Techniscope 2,35:1]
  • Music: Ennio Morricone [as Leo Nichols]
  • Maestro d'armi: William Thomkins [as W.R. Thomkins]
  • Producers: Arrigo Colombo [as Harry Colombo], Giorgio Papi [as George Papi]
  • Production companies: Jolly Film

Reviews

Trivia

  • By the time Sergio Leone made this film, Italians had already produced about 20 films ironically labelled "spaghetti westerns." Leone approached the genre with great love and humor. Although the plot was borrowed from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), Leone managed to create a work of his own that would serve as a model for many films to come. Clint Eastwood plays a cynical gunfighter who comes to a small border town and offers his services to two rivaling gangs. Neither gang is aware of his double play, and each thinks it is using him, but the stranger will outwit them both. The picture was the first installment in a cycle commonly known as the "Dollars" trilogy. Later, United Artists, who distributed it in the U.S., coined another term for it: the "Man With No Name" trilogy. While not as impressive as its follow-ups For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), A Fistful of Dollars contains all of Leone's eventual trademarks: taciturn characters, precise framing, extreme close-ups, and the haunting music of Ennio Morricone.
  • Not released in the U.S. until 1967 due to copyright problems (the film is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo), the film was decisive in both Clint Eastwood's career and the recognition of the Italian western.

Versions and runtimes

  • Runtime: 100 minutes
  • In 1977, US TV network CBS thought the film too violent and the main character too immoral for the film to be shown in its original cut. Additional footage was shot and added to give the 'Man With No Name' a reason for his mission. Harry Dean Stanton was hired to portray a prison warden who sent a prisoner, the 'Man With No Name', to Mexico to clean up the town in order to obtain a pardon for past crimes. A stand-in was used for Clint Eastwood, who was a good 6 inches shorter and wore a serape instead of a poncho. He always had his hand on the cigar in his mouth and his hat pulled down low, so his face was covered. Close-ups of Clint's eyes were shown whenever the actors face was shown. This additional footage can now be seen as a bonus feature on the deluxe DVD package. It's a badly made addition, which was directed by Monte Hellman.
  • The Italian credits in one version, including blu-rays, list the director, Sergio Leone, as Bob Robertson and music by Leo Nichols. A second version lists Leone and Ennio Morricone correctly. Ironically in this second version, Gian Maria Volonté has his own credit screen but is listed on the following screen with his usual alias for the film as John Wells.

External version comparisons:

Release Dates

Theatrical launches: September 12, 1964 (Italy), March 5, 1965 (West Germany); December 25, 1965 (Japan); March 16, 1966 (France); January 18, 1967 (USA). 1975 (Germany re-release)

Filming locations

  • Almería
  • Hoyo de Manzanares: Golden City
  • Madrid: Casa de Campo - The Riojo House
  • Almeria: El Sotillo - Clint drinks water

Production and business

  • A Fistful of Dollars was filmed between April and June 1964
  • Budget approx $ 200,000

Dubbing

In the Italian dub, Clint is dubbed by Enrico Maria Salerno, in the German dub by Klaus Kindler.

External Links

Find this movie elsewhere:

The Movie Database Letterboxd Wikipedia IMDb

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